Chapter 27

An epic debut .

A definitive review .

By the most authoritative industry publication . No one could dispute that .

The “epic” label also meant that the upcoming season of the new talent contest was destined to be a bloody battle .

No, maybe it went beyond the New Pioneers Chart . Maybe it would develop into a storm that sucked in the entire Yanzhou music industry . Calling it subversion wouldn’t be an overstatement . It had disrupted the planning of so many others .

There was a reason why Ya Erlin and Chu Guang didn’t classify the song as an “epic” lightly . Setting aside the quality of the piece itself, this was still an unprecedented feat .

There had been epic pieces before . The Big Three—Silver Wing Media, Neon Culture and Tongshan True Entertainment—all boasted their own elite cooperatives . Silver Wing had Flying Pegasus, Neon Culture had Metal Torrent, and Tongshan True Entertainment was home to Fourth Dimension . They were all capable of producing epic works .

The same went for the other top music cooperatives in other parts of the world, not just Yanzhou . The music they produced was copyrighted . It was never positioned as pop music and their target audience was never the average consumer .

These cooperatives usually only composed for projects with hundreds of millions in profit at stake, like blockbusters, hit TV shows, ads, and online games . Or the biggest of superstars . They always enjoyed a heavenly existence .

And every project was kept tightly under wraps . There were no leaks . That was why these elite cooperatives had special status within their respective record labels . Even a department head like Julian carried no weight with them . She wasn’t kidding when she’d said she had trouble obtaining a full song from Flying Pegasus .

When outside companies or entities wanted to use the work of these elite co-operatives, they had to pay up, and it was beyond what the average consumer could afford . Four figures was a minimum, and that only bought you a limited license that lasted a few days or a few months . It depended .

If you wanted to own a song outright, the pricing was even higher . Word was a piece composed by Flying Pegasus was sold for seven figures to a video game studio last year . No one knew the exact amount . No one could vouch for the quality of the song because no one had heard it . The rumor was it wasn’t an “epic” piece . If it were, it would have cost even more .

That was why, when Silver Wing launched a virtual idol with an epic song, it sent jaws dropping everywhere .

“Are they nuts?”

That was the response of the Fei Lisi project team at Neon Culture .

Had the folks at Silver Wing lost it?

An epic song for a virtual idol with uncertain prospects? This was no ordinary song . It was golden .

If the Metal Torrent cooperative at Neon Culture produced such a song, they would never waste it on a new virtual idol .

Silver Wing’s behavior was downright crazy, wasteful, and incomprehensible . It was like using a dragon-slaying sword to chop garlic . Even if Silver Wing could stomach it, other bystanders felt the pain .

The community of composers was also blown away by this costly investment . So Flying Pegasus had quietly, secretly crafted a virtual idol . And everyone thought they were working on the score for a year-end blockbuster . They never would have guessed .

Insiders at that level maintained a certain level of contact . So when “Divine Punishment” was released, Flying Pegasus members kept being pestered, but no one found out anything .

“It’s OK . I understand if you can’t say anything . No need to explain . You have your considerations . ” The folks calling Flying Pegasus started answering their own questions .

But the composers at Flying Pegasus were equally dumbfounded .

Wait, what do you understand? Please explain .

What considerations? How come we were kept in the dark? Who wrote that song? How come Silver Wing had signed such a great talent and we didn’t know about it?

The head of Flying Pegasus clutched his chest with a shivering hand after hanging up the phone again .

Heartbreaking .

An epic .

Used to launch a virtual idol .

He wanted to find out who had made such a wasteful decision .

After swallowing a pill handed to him by an assistant, the head of Flying Pegasus couldn’t sit still . He got up and punched his intercom .

He was going to complain to the head of the label .

The music industry was abuzz with heated discussion, and outsiders were equally excited .

A song deemed hefty enough to back an epic film by an authoritative publication was used to launch a virtual idol . It was the equivalent of rolling out a red carpet made with gold bricks .

“What do I hear? Money! Tons of money!”

“No, what you’re hearing is the sound of gold bricks . “

Gold bricks .

A gold brick you could purchase for a dollar .

Even music fans uninterested in epic scores couldn’t help downloading the song . Only the song was available for download . The music video could only be added to a playlist .

Everyone who watched the music video shared the same thought .

“How come it feels like this is just the beginning?”

“You’re spot on . It is just the beginning . Didn’t you see the words ‘First Movement’ at the end of the video? It’s the end of the year . I think Silver Wing is up to something . “

“I think Silver Wing is up to something too . “

“Neon Culture and Tongshan True Entertainment created such a frenzy with their virtual idols, while Silver Wing kept a low profile . Turns out they were holding back a secret weapon . “

“They’ve made their first move . A second move is coming, no?”

“Am I the only person who noticed the name Fang Zhao?”

. . .

No matter what, “Divine Punishment” being deemed an epic by industry authorities caused countless ripples . Everyone at Silver Wing was shocked except for Du Ang, Julian, and Ya Erlin .

After reading the review, Du Ang and company rushed to the 50th floor . Today marked the official launch of Polar Light, so the entire virtual idol project team was there . They were celebrating when the trio arrived .

Zu Wen and Zeng Huang weren’t music fans, but they knew what the review meant for Polar Light’s debut .

When Du Ang and company arrived, they locked the elevator doors so no curious outsiders could bother them .

Du Ang was so excited he forgot what he wanted to say when he opened his mouth .

Ya Erlin and Julian shoved him aside when they saw he couldn’t manage a syllable after several false starts .

“Fang Zhao, are you really the composer?” Julian asked . Even though she had asked the question many times, she was still skeptical when the review came out .

“Yes, I wrote the song . ” Fang Zhao nodded .

“If I’m not mistaken, there are still other movements in the works?” Ya Erlin followed up .

“Indeed . ” Fang Zhao had nothing to hide . “There are still three more movements to go . “

The trio of department heads took a deep breath .

Three more movements .

“Have you started recording them? Let us take a look . ” Du Ang was anxious to get a head start .

“I haven’t started recording,” Fang Zhao responded .

“Why?” Du Ang asked in a surprised tone .

But Fang Zhao was the one who was surprised by the stupid question .

“I’ve used up all my funding . “